Firefighters and police have performed one of their more unusual rescue operations - saving a sheep from the chilly River Wharfe.

The animal was spotted in the river close to Otley police station yesterday.

PC Simon Heathcote said: "We were having breakfast when the call came out.

"A passer-by saw the sheep in the river and had rung us. It had lodged between a branch and the bank.

"We had to call the fire brigade to lift it out and when they got it out, it couldn't walk."

Once inside Otley police station, the sheep was dried off with blankets and a hair drier.

Then it was taken to Bridge End Cattle Market whose staff were today trying to find its owner.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.